With Blind Alibi (1938), RKO Radio Pictures introduced its rival to Warner Bros.' canine superstar Rin Tin Tin in Ace the Wonder Dog, a German Shepherd who went on to appear in more than a dozen feature films between 1938 and 1946.
Ace would next appear for RKO as a police dog opposite Tim Holt in The Rookie Cop (1939) but he proved no real threat to Rinty and was soon hiring on with such Poverty Row studios as Republic and Monogram. For Columbia Pictures, Ace played Devil, the four-legged best friend of Tom Tyler's The Phantom (1943), a 15-part serial adaptation of the popular comic strip by Lee Falk.
Ace would next appear for RKO as a police dog opposite Tim Holt in The Rookie Cop (1939) but he proved no real threat to Rinty and was soon hiring on with such Poverty Row studios as Republic and Monogram. For Columbia Pictures, Ace played Devil, the four-legged best friend of Tom Tyler's The Phantom (1943), a 15-part serial adaptation of the popular comic strip by Lee Falk.
The 200,000 francs in blackmail money demanded equaled about $5,755 at the time, which equates to over $72,000 in 2023.
Tommy Bupp is in casting call lists for the role of Freddy, but he is not seen in the movie. Contemporary news items lists several cast members not seen either: Gladden James, Clyde Willson, Pat O'Malley and Monte Montague.
Richard Dix returned to RKO to act in this movie after a two-year absence from the studio. He had in the meantime made four pictures at Columbia. Although The Hollywood Reporter announced that Blind Alibi (1938) was to be the first of four RKO pictures starring Dix and produced by Cliff Reid, Reid only produced one of the four.
The screenplay for this film was adapted from William J. Cowen's unpublished story, "The Seeing Eye."